


Caffé Americano Triple Shot with a Dash of Soy

by brandidy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Coffee Shops, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Professor Kylo Ren, Rey Needs A Hug, professor/student
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-02-08 11:43:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18622648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandidy/pseuds/brandidy
Summary: Rey works as a barista in a coffee shop on campus with Kylo Ren being her most loyal (and most despised) customer.





	1. Kyle, Kobe, Karl, Kirk, Kevin, Kaleb

This _sucked._

That may sound exaggerated and completely whiny, spoiled even, but it was an impossible thought to maneuver around because when she stopped everything, blanked out her mind, found her inner _Zen_ , she came to the undeniable conclusion that this really, really _sucked._

As Rey began to restart the espresso machine- with zero help, she might add- she began to ponder on how life had brought her here.

If you were to look at the big picture, you’d see that this was actually the pinnacle of her life. She’d like to say it was just the upward facing slope on the very rocky and jagged mountain ledge of her life, but her optimism only stretched so far. You see, Rey wasn’t even quite sure how she had wound up where she was now. Only four months ago, she was scrubbing rusted AT-AT carburetors that she found from wiggling her scrawny body into places her foster father couldn’t quite reach, getting paid with two meals a day and a cot in the back garage to sleep on. Four months ago, she was a nobody sitting in Nowhere’s-ville, Nowhere. Four months ago, she wasn’t expecting to hear back from the University of Coruscant, and she sure as _hell_ wasn’t expecting them to pay nearly all of her tuition and board.

But tuition was more expensive than she realized when she had made a promise to herself at the tender age of nine, knees covered in scrapes and dried dirt as she scarfed down a half loaf of stale bread that she’d found in the garbage. Money hadn’t made sense to her then. She had assumed that if you were smart and if you were determined, college was a sure bet. Prior to that, Rey had been neither of those things. It took a hard look at her life- as hard as a nine year old could really look at their life- to kick her tiny butt into gear. When the _ladies_ came, the ones with clipboards and nice smiles, she realized that her promise might not need to be broken. Of course, living with that man had thrown her off course for a while, but she eventually found her way back and graduated from her public school with the second highest ranking and one hell of an SAT score.

But as she grew up, she realized more and more that college was a much less attainable dream than she ever knew of. It costs money, _lots of money,_ and when she skipped scrapping one morning to take a bus to UC for a tour (something that did _not_ go unpunished), she realized that students in college weren’t like students in her 2-A Jakku high school. In the lecture halls, there were beautiful laptops with cute covers. Their faces were done up in a way Rey couldn’t even comprehend, make-up something foreign to her beyond the smudged eyeliner and bright blue eyeshadow she had come to know from the older women in her town. Their backpacks were pristine, not a hole or frayed thread in sight.

However, the anxiety that immediately plagued her was nothing more than a slight bump in the road whenever she got to the library and saw the infinite amount of books shoved on shelves just _begging_ for her eyes to scan their contents. She could only imagine the mechanical guides, the physics studies, the engineering textbooks. At that moment, Macs and floral print ruffled shirts were the last thing on her mind.

Money was still an obstacle, of course. While the university paid for ninety-five percent of all of her expenses, that five percent added up to more money than she’d ever held in her scavenger hands. So, she immediately set out to get a job. Her payment plan allowed her to postpone her dues until late October, but that was only two months from then and she still had quite a bit to earn in the mean-time.

Fast-forward to the present, a small statured girl like herself taking on the night shift _alone_ in a coffee shop right on the edge of campus. That in itself was bad enough, but when you consider this is technically her first day (she’d came in twice before to learn the general mechanics of it all), there’s no one to help her, and there’s a freaking _line_ growing like a python throughout the lobby- hissing included- Well, then you can also come to the conclusion that yeah, this _sucks._

Yet somehow, Rey wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is ridiculous,” a deep voice spoke in front of her.

Rey didn’t bother glancing up. Clearly trying to reign in the testy machine before her was more important than an annoyed customer. “Sorry, sir,” she acquiesced, grateful the exasperation wasn’t present in her voice. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

The same voice laughed, although she could hear that it was intended to be anything but humorous. “I’ve been standing here for nearly ten minutes,” the man sighed dramatically. Apparently, he hadn’t tried as hard to keep the exasperation from _his_ voice. “I would have brought a blanket and a pillow if I had known I was going to be here all night.”

Rey bit down on her lip, fighting the impulse to bite back out of anger. Reigning in her rage was a new concept to her. Typically, she had to use it to keep other people from taking her findings for the day so that she could eat. She knew that wouldn’t work here, and so she was really trying to remain calm in all situations.

The machine made a loud noise, making Rey jump. The man before her chuckled.

 _This isn’t Jakku, Rey,_ she reminded herself.

 “As you can see, I’m alone on this shift, and it’s my first day, so please just bear with me.” Her fingers were gripping the espresso cup, finally allowing herself to look up at the man whenever the machine whirred to life and began to spew coffee.

He was an older man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He had long black hair that looked like it could have either been styled that way, or he had just rolled out of bed- she didn’t know a thing about men’s fashion. The black blazer he wore looked more business than academic, making Rey briefly wonder if he was a professor or a late business major. Her eyes quickly flitted back to his face, where she was met with an uneven jaw line and an irate look in his brown eyes.

“First day, huh?” His question seemed curious, a different tone taking on his voice. Rey found herself nodding absently, unaware that the espresso machine had finished and was ready to perform more duties. “Hopefully it’s your last.”

Oh.

_Oh._

This man was a completely and utter asshole!

“Rey!”

Rey found herself unable to turn around from the man before her despite hearing her name being called. She felt a rage inside of her that she hadn’t felt in months, and while she knew she wouldn’t act on it, she also knew that she wanted to transfer every piece of rage building up inside her through some existential bond she was currently forming with him through their prolonged eye contact. If looks could kill, that man would be dead on the floor with a dismembered limb and three bullets to the head.

Considering the smirk that played on the edge of his lip, she figured that either her point hadn’t come across the way she intended, or this man was both an asshole and an idiot.

“Rey?” The voice asked, this time in alarm. Rey spun around and found the manager Finn standing beside her, tying his apron behind his back. “I’m so sorry. I usually take my car here, but when I got in it today I saw that one of the tires was flat so I had to take the metro.” The look in his eye was truly apologetic, and Rey remembered that he had been very kind to her the two times she had come in before, and so she released all- okay, maybe just most- of her anger towards the man in front of her, and quickly stepped back to let Finn take her place.

“You might want to look into getting a new barista,” the man scowled, smirk gone and replaced with contempt.

‘ _You might want to remove all sharp things from the vicinity before one of them inexplicably makes its way into your back’_ , Rey thought, slipping past Finn to continue working on the drink orders that had been racking up.

“I’m sorry, sir. She’s new and still learning, and we left her with no help. I assure you she will be a great barista with time,” Finn responded, and Rey found her cheeks warming at the words he spoke. He was the first person to truly be nice to her since she had gotten here. Definitely not like this douche standing at the counter.

He rattled off his drink order, no more snide comments passing through his lips, or at least none she could hear. She saw on the cup for him that his name was ‘Kylo’. Snortling into her hands, she thought of how silly of a name that was. What parent had name their baby boy _Kylo_?

As if the feeling was tangible, Rey felt eyes practically stabbing her side, so she mistakenly lifted her gaze and connected with the path of cold brown ones. Realizing that he likely knew she was laughing at what was written on his cup, she nervously scratched the back of her neck and offered an insincere but completely embarrassed smile back to him. His response was to narrow his gaze further, then completely look away.

Rey thought that was the best response he had given in the last half hour.

“Kyle?” Rey asked, holding out his cup two minutes later.

She was staring right at him, sitting not more than ten feet away from her at a circular table against the wall.

“Kyle!” She continued, her voice growing louder. Barely containing her laughter, Rey saw his eyebrow twitch as he finally looked up at her. “Caffé Americano with a triple shot of espresso and a dash of soy milk?” She saw the annoyance flutter over his features again, and this time, Rey felt pure unadulterated happiness stem from it. The man slowly scooted back his chair and took long strides toward her, stopping only to immediately try to snatch the drink from her hand. Rey couldn’t help but pull it further away from his, adopting a concerned expression. “You’re Kyle, right?”

“It’s _Kylo_ , idiot,” he gritted out from between his slightly crooked teeth. “Didn’t they make sure you could read before they hired you?”

Rey offered her most radiating smile, handing him the drink finally. “My bad, sir. Won’t happen again.”

But it did.

The next day at around 9:25pm, in walked her most despised customer with the sneer already gracing his features. The cup was already in her hand, marker tip ready. “Same as yesterday?” Rey asked, fake smile still plastered on.

The question seemed to take him by surprise, and instead of the rude retort she expected, he just gave her a stern nod of his head, holding his card in his hand. “I can take that,” Rey said after telling him the total was $4.92, holding her hand out to take his card.

“I’d rather do it,” Kylo responded with undeniable reproach.

Her smile faltered, but Rey just widened her lips. “I’m afraid it’s only available to swipe on my computer.”

Kylo rolled his eyes, then pulled out his black leather wallet and stuck his card back in before pulling out a five dollar bill. “I want the change back.”

Yes because she was going to break the rules and steal his money all for _eight cents._

Rey grabbed the change and practically shoved it into his hand, thinking of how she could get away with kicking him out of the store without being fired. Luckily, Kylo was done with his insults and had moved to the table he had sat at before, leaving Rey to stew in her own storm of hatred as she grudgingly traded places with one of her coworkers to make his drink.

Still, the smile was back on her lips when she held out his cup and asked, “Kobe?”

This time, he looked up at her immediately, standing when he found she was watching him with yet another radiant smile. He snatched the drink from her hand this time, not allowing her to try and pull the same trick on him that she had the day before. So she instead opted for saying, “have a good day, sir!” to his turning back, noticing how his shoulders went rigid beneath her gaze.

And so it went for the rest of the week.

“Karl?”

“Is there a Kirk?”

“Oh, Mr. Kevin, your drink is ready!”

“Kaleb? Caffé Americano triple shot, dash of soy?”

His face was carefully blank when he reached for his drink on that Saturday night. “They haven’t fired you yet, I see.”

“Nah,” Rey responded, leaning on the counter with the ease of someone speaking to their friend of years. “I think old Finnegan kind of likes me being around. I’ll probably be here for a long, _long_ while.” Her smile was perfect, carefully orchestrated through years of lies until she had mastered the look and was able to produce it on command.

That was of course until her least favorite customer almost imperceptibly nodded his head and said, “good.”

Now what the hell did that mean?

She was obviously too busy to ask, and while he usually stayed until closing and leaving through the door as she set out to clean the lobby, dear Kylo must have had a busy Saturday night planned ahead of him because he stormed out the door just seconds after dropping that bomb of confusion onto her head.


	2. Don't Say My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey can't seem to get away from the evil guy from work.

“Rey, you can head home early,” Finn told her an hour and forty-one minutes before she was supposed to go home. “You’ve been working all week and classes start on Monday. Go home and get some sleep so you can get everything ready tomorrow.”  

Rey’s heart thudded painfully in her chest from his kindness. Finn was slowly becoming a dear friend to her, and it was moments like this that she thought she could kiss him. “Thank you so much, Finn.” 

“No problem, sunshine.” The term of endearment was new to her, but not at all unwelcome. It made her feel less alone, like she had someone who at least sort of cared. A completely odd thought crossed her mind, and she briefly wondered if Kylo was alone. Perhaps that was why he was such a piece of shit. “Rey, how about we grab lunch Monday? You can tell me how classes are going and stuff,” Finn shrugged, not exactly looking at her. 

Rey offered a true and happy smile, rushing forward to hug him quickly and then dart off to grab her stuff from the back, all while nearly shouting, “you have my number! We can make plans!” 

After passing out as soon as her head hit the pillow that night she awoke bright and early at 7am to get her things together and recheck that she had enough notebook paper and pencils. After that, it was 7:13am and she was at a loss. Rey slowly dragged through the day avoiding her roommate and walking around campus to learn all of her classes. After the fifth lap around, she decided to go to the gym.  

What she hadn’t been expecting to find was none other than her least favorite customer there in a white tank top and tight black workout shorts. He was running on a treadmill, well more like sprinting, and despite her immediate disgust, Rey found herself intrigued by the beast before her. When he was running, he seemed to be completely focused on the workout, which meant he was unable to sneer and look down upon others like she usually saw him do. 

Sweat was staining through his white shirt and he was breathing heavily, chest heaving in and out like a race horse. He was built, as much as Rey hated to admit it. His shoulders were broad and muscular, and his stomach looked flat beneath his shirt, but clearly held muscles of its own. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t listening to headphones like the other people in the gym. He was probably the type of guy that hated technology, boring as he was.  

Not having sound to drown out the machine noise meant he was more aware of his surroundings, which meant he noticed when something was happening around him, which meant he noticed when the short woman stopped several feet to his right and was staring at him with her mouth slightly agape. 

_Fuck_. 

Rey offered a brief wave before moving past the treadmills quickly and made her way to the machine she knew was called the elliptical. Rey had never been to a gym before, so before she went to the one on campus, she had went to the library and used their computers to look up workout machines and how to use them. The two that she had intended to use the most had been the treadmill and the elliptical, and since the bane of her existence was on the treadmill, _elliptical it is_. 

Rey sat her water bottle in the cup holder of the machine, stepping onto the feet holders and gripping the hand grippers. She stared down at the foreign machine for well over a minute before she realized she had _completely_ forgotten how to work the damn thing. If she was anyone else, she would have just used her phone to google it, but that wasn’t an option with her outdated device so instead she attempted to use her scientific mind to figure it out. 

If Tesla could create an induction motor, she could figure out an elliptical. 

Hopefully. 

Maybe. 

Doubt trickled in as the moments passed. Rey started pressing buttons, but nothing lit up on the screen. Maybe she had picked a broken one? 

“You have to start moving on it, then press the buttons.” 

_Please no. Please, please no._  

Looking over her shoulder, she was the sweaty face of Kylo looking back at her.  

“Hi,” she nearly whimpered, feeling completely out of control of the situation now that they weren’t in her territory. 

“Did you not hear me?” He asked instead of responding. “Besides, what kind of moron doesn’t know how to use an elliptical?” 

Something about the way he said that irked her, and so she quickly spun her upper body around and scoffed, “I’ve never been to a gym.” 

“Clearly, or else you’d have some muscle on your skinny bones.” His judgmental gaze looked her up and down, something that under normal circumstances would have flattered Rey. But this was her own personal nightmare. Usually people have nightmares about things from horror movies and stories, like Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers. When Rey fell asleep at night, it was Kylo’s face hovering like a floating head in a void, reading off his coffee order in Latin. 

 Although, him judging her for not knowing something that most of the general public already knew was nearly as bad.  

“Do you even eat?” 

Internally, Rey was aware that this was one of the casual insults he had been throwing at her since the day they met. Yet, this one hit just a _little_ too close to home. In fact, it actually jumped the fence and hit home in the fucking nose.  

Rey didn’t hesitate before jumping off of the stupidly confusing elliptical, shoving her shoulder into Kylo’s arm since he was a good foot taller than her. “You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” 

She was half way down the gym stairs when she heard him calling her. It was the first time he had said her name, and Rey thought it left the taste of burnt shit in her mouth. 

“Rey, wait a second. What the hell is wrong with you?” God, he really was a charmer, wasn’t he? 

“Go away,” she quickly responded, stepping off of the stairs and heading for sanctuary. 

“I just want to know why I was physically assaulted a few seconds ago,” he told her, and any small speck of hope she had in his humanity vanished. This guy was a god damn piece of work. 

“Piss. Off.” Rey said, glancing at him over her shoulder before walking through the doors of the women’s locker rooms. She knew Kylo was trash, but she figured he’d at least be scared of getting kicked out of the gym. 

After hanging out in there for twenty minutes or so, she eventually ventured out to make sure he was gone. When the coast was clear, Rey quickly left the gym and headed back to her dorm to stew in her hatred of the Abominable Snow-dick that seemed to be everywhere she was. 

What kind of asshole says that to someone? He had no idea what she had been through or was going through. It disgusted her that he clearly either worked or went to the university and he thought he could say something like that to someone. 

Monday morning came all too quickly, but luckily Rey had been ready for it. The summer without school had been torture, and now she was finally going to be able to get back in the swing of things and start diving into the knowledge she had been craving for so long. She was still angry about Kylo, but her hope was that the difficult classes she was taking would wipe her mind of him. 

Her first class of the day was at 8:30am- Thermodynamics. She had aced all of her AP test and received credit for the prerequisite courses, so she would likely be in a slightly advanced class.  

Crossing campus was easy since she had practiced walking to all of her classes the day before, and when she made it to the large lecture hall, she only allowed herself thirty seconds to take in the expansive space before venturing further into the room to find a good spot. She was twenty minutes early and only a dozen or so students were also occupying the room built to fit several hundred.  

“This seat taken?” A voice asked, and Rey looked up to see a handsome man standing beside her. Confused, she looked around and saw at least 250 open seats around her. “I know there’s a lot of other seats, but I was wondering about this one in particular.” His smile was infectious and perhaps… Flirty? Rey wasn’t sure, but she didn’t complain as she smiled back at him. 

“It’s all yours.” 

The man practically fell into the seat, holding out his hand towards her. “Poe Dameron.” 

“Rey Niima,” she responded, the smile not quite ready to be extinguished from her face.  

“It’s good to see more women in Engineering, Rey Niima.” Poe looked around as the room slowly began to fill.  

“What do you mean?” Rey inquired, her features switching back to those of confusion. 

“Well, I hate to be the one to tell you, but you’re about to be outnumbered about twenty-five to one,” Poe responded. Before she could question him further, she saw his gaze flicker beyond her and his posture immediately stiffen almost unintentionally.  

Before she could turn, Rey heard the booming voice fill the room.  

“The rooms not even a quarter of the way full and I see some people are already sitting in the back. I didn’t realize I’d have so many failing grades this semester.” 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Rey whispered, turning in her seat to watch as her least favorite customer- least favorite person, actually- strode into the room with a satchel over his shoulder and a haughty expression she’d never forget.  

“Yeah, he can be a total asshole but he’s one of the best engineers on the staff,” Poe supplied. “Being on Kylo Ren’s good side can take you pretty far, or so I’ve heard. But that’s not likely, considering his reputation.” 

Kylo Ren. She hadn’t even known his last name. 

Hadn’t _wanted_ to know it, actually. 

“No, you don’t understand,” Rey whispered, terrified the man himself would hear her since she was in the third row and almost parallel to his desk. “He-“ 

“Rey,” that deep voice called out, and Rey’s mouth slapped shut. She looked back to Kylo- Professor _Ren_ , and tried to mask her utter disdain. 

“Yes, Professor?” 

Something passed over his face then, but it was gone before Rey had the chance to decipher it. “See me after class, please.”  

Actually, she would rather die. 

“Unfortunately, I have-“ 

Professor Ren raised an eyebrow. “Did I ask what you have to do?” 

Scratch that, she would rather _him_ die. 

“No.” 

Satisfaction marred his features and Rey felt the need to tear it from his unproportioned, stupid, ugly face. “Then I’ll see you after class.” He spun around with that, opening his satchel and began to pull out papers from the leather cavern. 

“What the hell was that?” Poe questioned, and Rey sighed, quietly whispering her current situation to the man she just met as she waited for her first class to begin with the man she hated. 


End file.
